Learning About Nutrition

Last week we talked about digestion, so it was only natural to transition to talking about food.

 
First we talked about how our body is made up of 60% water. We discussed ways our bodies loose water and how important water is to every system in our bodies. Next each student was given a mirror. They had to breathe on the mirror. Why? To show that our breath has water vapor in it. We loose some of our water content just by breathing.

I read about why we need water from the Usborne’s First Encyclopedia of the Human Body. We discussed how much water we should drink each day and reviewed the role of the kidneys in the body. Then we had a drink break! 🙂

 
Next we talked about food. The USDA does not have a food pyramid anymore. Instead they have a plate visual that shows what we should be eating each day. You can find out more at the Choose My Plate website.

Each student created their own plate visual. I kept this portion basic—just pointing out that we need more veggies than any other category of food.

From there we talked about the different types of food options that fall into each category. I got this awesome food groups printable from Montessori Print Shop. I love that I was able to download and print at midnight for my class the next day! 🙂

After we discussed the foods in the chart, I placed the category labels  in their own square on the gym floor. Then I handed each student a small stack of food cards. My class then worked on sorting the food cards into the correct category. They were allowed to look at the chart as a reference when needed. This was a fantastic activity and led to many mini-discussions such as, “Why is flax seed in the oil category?” or “What is kefir and why is it good for you?”  I liked that this set used whole food pictures not pictures of pizza, hamburgers, sandwiches etc.  This led to less confusion as to what food group the items really belonged.

From there we discussed that each of these foods contain different types of vitamins and minerals that are needed to keep our bodies healthy. In order to stay in the best health possible, we need to eat a variety of foods from each of the different categories. We ended our time reading several pages from Why Do People Eat?

 Weekly Take-Home Sheet Download

You can see what we’ve covered so far on the Human Body page. Linking up to Science Sunday too.